Feature Freeze Exception Granted for Ubuntu 13.04 to Add "100 Scopes"

The Ubuntu 13.04 Unity has received a major update

Ubuntu 13.04 is expected to arrive in April, just like all the other previous versions, but now it will include a new Unity Dash stack that promises a myriad of changes and improvements.

When Ubuntu enters feature freeze, it usually means that no major modifications will be done before launch, with the exception of bug fixes.

[admark=1]Canonical’s Michael Hall has been granted a Feature Freeze Exception for Ubuntu 13.04 in order to implement a new Unity Dash stack that integrates all the modifications previously announced.

The features for the new and improved Unity were announced a while ago, but the most important announcement was about the Smart Scopes.

“Scopes are the daemons capable of presenting local or remote information right in the Dash. In 13.04, we will increase the number of scopes installed by default in Ubuntu (including many existing community developed scopes) and introduce the ability to automatically light up the right ones based on their relevancy to a user’s search query,” announced Cristian Parrino back in December.

This latest update, performed with a Feature Freeze Exception, has integrated these Smart Scopes in the development version of Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail).

“A new version of Unity's Dash, libunity APIs, the default and new ‘100 scopes’, with a target date of March 25th for landing in Raring. The rest of Unity (Launcher, Indicators, HUD, etc) will not be affected,” stated the Michael Hall in the Launchpad entry.

A few of the other developers who participated in the Launchpad discussion were not too happy about the Feature Freeze Exception, but eventually even Mark Shuttleworth pitched in and calmed the spirits.

The new scopes will act as “search engines” for the Dash and represents an effort made by Canonical to provide better search results in Unity, especially because everything is done online.